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The Glory of God in Our Midst
By
Rev. Jirair M. Sogomian
The Fundamental Christian doctrine that Christmas proclaims
to the world is the Incarnation - God entering into
human life and history in the person of the Christ.
The vast majority of the Christian world celebrates
this event from its historical perspective, as a pivotal
event that happened some 2000 years ago, once and for
all, when God became part of human life in all its facets
and implications, including human suffering and death!
The eternal Word became flesh and lived among us full
of grace and truth - the defining mystery of the Christian
faith and life, the mystery of the meeting of two distinct
spheres of existence, the human and the divine! As humans,
when we face this central Christian mystery, all we
can do is bow and adore the One who loved us so much
that He emptied himself of all his divine prerogatives
in order to fully identify himself with us, and in that
ultimate identification, even unto death, gives us the
hope of eternal life through his resurrection!
However,
what we overlook in our joyful and often noisy and ostentatious
celebration of historical Christmas, is that the Incarnation
also makes it possible for us to enter into the life
of God, even now, as he comes to dwell within us in
his Spirit. For the Christ child grew to adulthood,
and following his death and resurrection breathed upon
his followers his Spirit to be the permanent divine
presence within us. As such the Incarnation becomes
a preeminently contemporary event that continues to
happen every time we choose to participate in the divine
life Christ has made possible for us! Therefore, to
celebrate Christmas is not merely to affirm a historical
Christian doctrine, but it is to recognize the glory
of God in our midst and within ourselves in the person
and Spirit of the Christ! It means to embrace a whole
new way of life that God in Christ makes possible for
us!
Because
the Word has become flesh and dwells among us and within
us in all our human frailty and brokenness, we are now
empowered to imitate Christ. As Jesus emptied himself,
we too are called to empty ourselves of all pride and
pretension, and humbling ourselves with Christ in sacrificial
service, to identify ourselves with the least of Christıs
brothers and sisters in whom the Incarnate Christ meets
us! If the incarnation is the way God speaks his infinite
love and compassion to us, it must also be the way we
speak to others of Godıs love and compassion by giving
flesh and blood to Christıs love within us in concrete
acts of justice and mercy to those deprived of Godıs
presence in their lives!
Christmas gives us an opportunity to think of where
exactly God becomes flesh in our human condition...where
and how is God incarnate in human reality? As we study
the Gospels, it becomes clear to us what the Incarnate
Christ is all about. We find him preaching the gospel
of salvation and teaching about the kingdom of God.
We find him feeding the hungry, healing the sick, washing
his disciplesı feet, weeping with those who mourn and
laughing with those who celebrate, eating and resting,
enjoying a hearty meal and spending quiet time in prayer.
We find him touching and breaking bread with the unclean
without worrying about the legal and ceremonial implications
of his acts of mercy. We find him on mountaintops reflecting
Godıs glory and in the deep valleys of human despair
wondering how long it will take him to make us see the
light, to make us see God in Him and in us!
! A true celebration of Christmas, therefore, is to
participate in the ongoing mystery of the Incarnation
by reflecting Godıs healing and merciful presence in
every dimension of our life. The Spirit of the Incarnate
Christ is not within us in our impossible human perfection,
but within us in our human brokenness and vulnerability,
in our very participation in Christıs self-emptying
acts that ultimately shaped the cross. Christmas and
the cross are inseparable. They are both expressions
of Godıs presence with us and within us, a light in
the midst of our human darkness, and a love in the midst
of human depravity, hatred and strife, that will not
let us go until we prevail over all evil.
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| Worship
updated
December 20, 2000 |
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Ordination
And Graduation Services In Armenia
Two historical events marked the last week of November for the
Armenian Evangelical community in Armenia: pastoral ordinations
in the Evangelical Church of Armenia, and the first graduation
exercises of the Evangelical Theological Seminary of Armenia.
On
Sunday, November 26, 2000, in the presence of more than four
hundred dignitaries and well-wishers gathered in the House of
the Architects Union in Yerevan, Hamlet Kyureghian and Guevork
Geuvorkian were ordained to ministry in the independent republic
of Armenia. Rev. René Leonian, senior pastor of the Union of
Evangelical Churches in Armenia, remarked that the moment had
not only ecclesiastical but national dimension. Churches around
the world sent letters of congratulations. Two letters received
special mention: one from Rev. Dr. Vahan Tootikian, President
of the Armenian Evangelical World Council, and another from
Mr. Andrew Torigian, President of the Armenian Missionary Association
of America.
In his remarks, Mr. Hamlet Kyureghian gave thanks to God and
his loved ones for the strength and support they provided to
make his ordination possible. Mr. Guevork Guevorkian pledged
his ministry to the service of broken-hearted, hopeless and
lost people, by offering the Good News of Jesus Christ.
Rev. René Leonian challenged the candidates to be faithful to
the Word of God, and to accept ordination as a higher calling
to ministry. Rev. Leonian, joined by the assembled clergy, then
offered the prayer of ordination. The service concluded with
prayers of benediction offered by the newly ordained ministers.
On Wednesday, November 29, at the Hakob Baronian State Theater,
six hundred government dignitaries, church representatives,
and guests attended the first graduation exercises of the Evangelical
Theological Seminary of Armenia. Founded in 1997 by the Armenian
Missionary Association of America and the Union of Evangelical
Churches in Armenia, the Seminary has enrolled sixty students
from Armenia and Georgia, of whom fifteen comprised the first-ever-graduating
class.
Academic Dean Rev. Guevork Guevorkian welcomed the guests and
congratulated the families of the graduates. He thanked the
organizations that had lent support to the Seminary, and read
a letter from Mr. Andrew Torigian on behalf of the Armenian
Missionary Association of America, which has fully funded the
Seminary throughout its existence. Rev. Guevorkian added, "this
letter fills our hearts with joy and with sorrow. We were expecting
to have Rev. Dr. Movses Janbazian, the Executive Director of
AMAA with us, but the Lord has called his beloved servant into
the eternal peace." Rev. René Leonian recalled Rev. Janbazian's
contribution to the life of the Seminary. "Congratulating our
graduates, we want to praise the Lord for Rev. Janbazian's life
and ministry," he said. Rev. Janbazian's vision and enthusiasm
played a vital role in the creation and operation of the Seminary;
he headed the Seminary's International Advisory Board; and he
had hoped to attend the historic commencement. In his place,
Rev. John Zarifian, AMAA missionary in Armenia, represented
the AMAA.
During the ceremonies, Mr. Sergey Vardanian, Deputy Chairman
of the State Council of Religion, challenged the graduates to
"light at least one candle in the spiritual darkness of Armenia,
and become good sowers, planting the seeds of the Bible." Rev.
Yuri Avanesyan, President of the Union of the Armenian Evangelical
Churches in Armenia, encouraged the graduates to continue their
self-education throughout their lives, using the Bible as their
inspiration, and concluded with this challenge to the new graduates:
"Remember that the beginning of wisdom, and the end of wisdom,
is the fear of the Lord. Be wise!"
Dean Guevorkian charged the graduates to become evangelists,
and added, "there are too many beautiful countries in the world,
but the Motherland is given to us once and forever. Be people
that have this sense of belonging and feel the responsibility
for their homeland. Remember that the greatest commandment calls
us to love the Lord with all our heart, mind, and strength,
and to love our neighbors as ourselves. Let us show the love
of God through our service to our fellow Armenians."
The
Dean presented the candidates to the President, who conferred
upon each the degree of Bachelor of Theology. The Commencement
ended with the graduates' word of promise, and a prayer of benediction
offered by Rev. Yuri Avanesyan.
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